


Liability

by stateofdreamin



Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Fluff, I love her, ITS 5 AM, Kind of AU, Light Angst, chaubrey if you squint, drabble?, idk where im going w this, its 7am now, so much, this isnt gonna b good
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-09
Updated: 2018-02-09
Packaged: 2019-03-15 18:23:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13619070
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stateofdreamin/pseuds/stateofdreamin
Summary: (They say, you're a little much for me. You're a liability, you're a little much for me)She never really understood what was so wrong with showing affection.





	Liability

Chloe is a touchy-feely person, she always had been. Whether it was a hand on a shoulder to show sympathy, a pat on the back as a 'good job today' or just a hug to show how happy she is.

 

When she was in kindergarten, she was friends with everyone. She was kind, welcoming (of course, she was a child) and she didn't do things like pull other girls' pigtails. (There was this once incident where she made another girl eat mud, but in her defense; the girl was a real poopyhead). She would always hug her friends and teachers goodbye when she left, and she held her friends' hands while walking around the playground. Chloe wanted the people around her to know that they were special to her without having to tell them.

 

The Beale household was a very touchy-feely place. Chloe and her parents would sit close on the couch while having one of their weekly movie nights when Chloe was in middle school, she would witness her dad give her mom's hand a gentle squeeze when she was upset, watch her mom kiss her dad's cheek whenever he cooked dinner for them. And she loved it, she loved seeing their love through simple actions and gestures.

 

Her first really close friend was in 8th grade (sure, she'd had other friends. Some she'd might call best friends, but there was something different with Alyssa). They were practically inseperable, they were with each other during recess, lunch, they'd hang out after school as much as they could and tell secrets in the middle of the night uring sleepovers. It was almost as if she had a sister. (Alyssa would later clarify that having a sister was, in fact, not as fun as Chloe had imagined and that she should be happy she was an only child). Chloe also had a tendency to link their arms together when they were walking, and often lace their fingers together, swinging their arms back and forth while they were walking. She's always thought of it as something that friends do, it was nothing weird about it. At least that what she'd thought, until Alyssa had yelled at her in the middle of the courtyard telling her to stop.

 

("I dont want people to think that we're girlfriends" Alyssa had whispered angrily at Chloe "I'm not gay!"

It was the way she had said the word 'gay' that made Chloe feel confused, she had said it as if it was a bad thing. But what was so wrong with loving someone?)

 

Her first boyfriend broke up with her because she was too clingy. When Chloe had asked him what he'd meant by that, he'd looked at her as if she was stupid.

 

"you're around all the time, and you don't seem to know what personal space is"; he'd shout once they were alone in her house. "you're always sitting right next to me, on my lap and you're always around. I cant get room to breathe"

"I'm just trying to show affection, Jacob", she'd say, looking down at her feet. "I want you to know how much i care about you"

"You can do that without suffocating me Chloe", he said before he turned around and left her alone to cry in her living room.

(Her mother had asked her what was wrong when she came home from work and saw her 16 year old daughter crying, and shook her head when she said she was too clingy)

 

There was a rumour that spread after they broke up, saying she was basically stalking him and taking pictures of him sleeping. Not a lot of her friends would believe her when she said it wasn't true so she was left alone for the rest of the school year.

 

 So she went into college with a few rules on her hand: 

1\. Never hug unless appropriate or initiated.

2\. Give people their space. 

3\. Don't be too clingy.

 

And she was fine. She'd even made good friends with her roomate, Aubrey, who was kind of a control freak. They grew closer and closer, and sooner rather than later they considered each other best friends. (Which Chloe had declared proudly on sunday morning, after they'd spent satuday night painting each other's toe nails and telling each other secrets and their fondest memories). Chloe didn't realize she had reverted back into the touchy-feely state until she'd taken Aubrey's hand while walking to class. (she had let go of the hand as soon as she realized and apologized, before entering her classroom). After that she restrained herself again. When Aubrey was in their room, Chloe would go to the gym or the library, giving her friend the space she thought she needed. (working out and reading was also a good distraction to the words that kept repeating in her head, saying that she was too needy, too much).

 

She'd managed to avoid Aubrey for a while until she got cornered in the bathroom, when she about to leave to go to the library to study. 

"What's going on with you?", Aubrey asked, with a hand on her hip and her brows furrowed in worry (and a bit of annoyance, she missed her best friend). "Why are you avoiding me, did I do something?"

Chloe bit the inside of her cheek and sighed before answering. "You didn't do anything, Aubrey. I just didn't want to be too clingy"

"What do you mean by clingy?", Aubrey asked, with the same expression but a bit more worry in her tone. 

 

Chloe walked around the other girl and sat down on her bed before looking up at Aubrey. She took a deep breath before she spoke. 

"In the past, I've been told that I'm too much of a bother"; she explained. She looked down at her hands, avoiding her best friend's gaze as she continued. "I was clingy, I touched too much, was around too much and suffocated people to the point where i lost most of the people around me. So i decided that i wasn't gonna do that here, Barden was a fresh start. A place where I wasn't known as the cllingy girl. After i took and held your hand a few days ago, I thought you'd want space."

 

Chloe hadn't realized Aubrey had sat down next to her on the bed, until she looked up. She knew it sounded stupid when she heard it out loud, but it was one of her biggest insecurities. She didn't want Aubrey to find her annoying, she was her best friend.

 

"I like it when you're around, Chloe", Aubrey started, taking one of Chloe's hands in her own. "I like it when you hug me, or fling your arm around me when we're walking. I like it when you hug me after one of Alice's weekly attacks  on me. I like it when you're clingy", Aubrey said (doing air quotes when she said clingy). "I like it because it shows me you care, it's a part of you. And I wouldn't have you any other way"

 

Chloe didn't really know how to react, she felt like a weight had lifted from her shoulders. Years of fears and insecurities, not entirely gone, but eased a little. So she hugged her best friend, tight, and thanked her for being a great friend. And she couldn't help but think that maybe she wasn't too much of a liability after all.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> hi, yes, i'm aware that this sucks ass. It's 7 am and i'm tired and this didnt turn out the way i hoped it would, but i still hope u liked it.


End file.
